


Water's Sweeter Than Blood

by SummerStormFlower



Series: Sonic & Tails Family [7]
Category: Sonic Underground
Genre: Bullying, Family Fluff, Fights, Gen, Important Talks, Interracial Family, Love, Racism, Tails is four or five, up to you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23247886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerStormFlower/pseuds/SummerStormFlower
Summary: Tails gets into a fight at school.
Relationships: Miles "Tails" Prower & Sonic the Hedgehog
Series: Sonic & Tails Family [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617721
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	Water's Sweeter Than Blood

When Sonic was done with work and went to his brother’s house to pick up Tails, he was not expecting to see purple-blue bruising around Tails’ right eye.

“Hi, Daddy!” Tails said cheerfully, completely oblivious to Sonic’s horror.

All Sonic could see was his black eye. His baby had a black eye.

“I’m guessing you noticed,” said Manic, watching his older brother warily. He was surprised when he saw the black eye for the first time too, but he knew Sonic’s reaction was going to be way worse. 

Sonic turned to Manic with a glare and pulled him into the hall, so Tails wouldn’t hear what he was about to say. “What the hell happened?!” he demanded hotly, looking like he might attack something.

Or someone and Manic didn’t want it to be him.

He carefully put a placating hand on Sonic’s shoulder. “Dude, chill - “

“Chill?! How can I chill?!” Sonic slapped Manic’s hand away. His whole being was vibrating with rage.

Manic backed away from his angry brother, rubbing his hand. This was going exactly as he had expected it to.He was not surprised in the slightest. “Look, the kid’s okay. He just got into a fight at school,” he explained as calmly as possible.

The colour drained from Sonic’s face and he nearly fell against the wall. “Fight? Tails got into a fight?” he asked, utterly shook.

Manic nodded and grinned wide. “Yeah, and he was really good too! You should’ve seen his upper cut. That’s leaving a mark,” he said proudly.

Sonic glared at him.

Manic’s smile faded. “Um, I mean, fighting’s bad. Yeah.”

Sonic dragged a hand down his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. “He’s in kindergarten. Why is he getting into fights?”

Manic then looked at Sonic seriously. “You should ask him that yourself.”

Sonic looked at his brother, his serious face making him nervous. Then he looked around the corner, where Tails still sat on the sofa, watching cartoons, and waiting to go home. He took a deep breath, unsure of what he was expecting or what he wanted to hear, and went back into the living room with Manic in tow.

He knelt in front of Tails, who noticed his presence immediately and turned to him with a big smile. “Hey Tails,” he said with a small smile of his own, trying hard to ignore his baby’s eye.

“Hi, Daddy. I missed you.” Tails opened his arms.

Sonic hugged him, holding him a little tighter than he normally did. “I missed you too,” he said. Then pulled back and looked Tails sternly in the eye. “Uncle Manic said you got into a fight. Why’s that?”

Tails’ nose scrunched angrily. “Because somebody said you’re not my real daddy!”

Sonic blinked in surprise. He looked at Manic for confirmation. Manic nodded grimly at him.

Tails crossed his arms and slumped grouchily. “Stupid bully said you can’t be my real daddy cuz’ you’re a hedgehog and I’m a fox.”

Sonic opened his mouth, then closed it. He didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t okay that Tails had gotten into a fight, but he’d had good reason to. He needed reassurance, but he also needed some form of punishment. However, Sonic didn’t feel fit to do that. He had gotten into fights in the past for reasons like that too, and he knew for a fact, that he still would.

Luckily, Manic noticed his inner struggle and stepped in to help. “First of all, you know that’s not true, right?” he asked his nephew.

Tails nodded vehemently. “I know. That’s why I punched him.”

“But,” Sonic cleared his throat, “You know it wasn’t right to punch him, don’t you?” He felt like such a big hypocrite, but he had to push that down. He had to be a good father.

Tails frowned in confusion. “Why not?”

Sonic sighed. This was really difficult. He sat beside Tails and put an arm around him. “Because that’s not a nice thing to do,” he tried to explain. He sounded weak even to himself.

“But he was mean first!” Tails exclaimed, upset that he was being berated when he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“I know,” Sonic sighed again, “But in situations like that, you have to be the bigger person.”

“The bigger person?” Tails asked, “What’s that mean?”

“It means that you walk away when someone makes you mad,” Sonic told him, finally finding the right words. He spoke strongly, “You tell your teacher and let her take care of things.”

Tails looked down. “Oh,” he mumbled, quiet realization seeping into him.

Sonic hated seeing his son sad and hugged him close. “I’m not upset with you." Tails needed to know that. "I’m very proud of you for sticking up for yourself and other kids like you,” he said, feeling a sense of pride swell up in him as he said it.

Tails smiled at him.

“I am going to have to punish you,” Sonic ruffled his fur, laughing a little when Tails’ smile fell, “but we’ll discuss that later, okay. Sound fair?” he asked.

Tails thought for a moment. Then he smiled and nodded.

Sonic pet Tails’ ears, his heart warm. “I am so proud of you.” He really, truly was.

Tails' ears perked happily. He climbed onto Sonic's lap and wrapped his arms around his neck. “I love you, Daddy.”

Sonic’s whole chest was warm. “I love you too,” he said softly, hugging Tails back.

Manic smiled at them. He checked the clock, then met Sonic’s eyes. “You wanna stay the night?”

Tails grinned hopefully at his dad.

Sonic smiled. “Sure. Thanks, bro.”

Manic gave him a thumbs up. “I’m there for ya.”

How anyone could think that their family wasn’t real, was beyond Sonic’s understanding.


End file.
